dangerous conditions today with lot of ponding water and low visibility. nbc bay area kris sanchez joins us from the summit on highway 17 with more on what kept the chp most busy today. kris? >> reporter: hi there, janelle. luckily for me, no need for an umbrella right now. but we certainly got rain earlier. we saw fog and lots of high winds. the chp was out in force. they don't have specific numbers for us just yet, but we can tell you they were going from call to call. frustration on highway 17 north of the summit as traffic backed up for miles after the driver of a white cargo van spun out and blocked half of the highway. oak stowell of los gatos saw that. >> we were getting by fine until this semitruck came by and the van and the wall. >> reporter: the crash happened along highway 17's infamous s-curve. the road is so tight that the chp officer had to push the van with his patrol car because not even a tow truck could make it

through. at the summit we found a business manager named, no joke, joe weatherman. >> the chp sitting up here are never sit hearing for more than four minutes because this road makes people crazy. they drive too fast. they don't pay attention to the conditions. >> reporter: that isn't exclusive to highway 17. we found this van flipped over on highway 77 near the 101 interchange. the chp advise franchise this happens to you, you drive off the roadway if you can. if you can't, stay in the car with your seat belt on. the chp today, as in any other day that we have weather situations like this is urging people to -- urging drivers to slow down and remember that that posted speed limit is for ideal conditions, which these are clearly not. they also say one more reminder. if you hit some of that pooled water on the roadway, resist the temptation to slam on your brakes. instead, let off your gas and hold on to your steering wheel instead. at the summit on 17, kris

sanchez, nbc bay area news. >> kris, thank you. for much of the day, the roads were slick and the skies were dreary. hundreds of people were stranded at sfo because of flight delays and cancellations. take a look now at this graphic. on the left side, all those red and green arrows you see there, that's a typical day for air traffic at sfo. a lot of flights going in and out. on the right side, very still. pretty much nothing. and that's what happened today. nbc bay area's marianne favro joins us at sfo. marianne, is there a domino effect here? will today's cancellations impact flights tomorrow for people? >> reporter: you're absolutely right, raj. when planes can't get in on time, then they end up leaving later. today about 60 to 90 minutes was the average delay. and the big reason was the wind. because it was coming from the southeast, that forced the airport to actually change its runway configuration. and because of that, it cut in half the number of planes that could land here each hour. now most of the canceled flights were short-haul trips on the

west coast to places like los angeles and san diego. 90 flights were canceled because many airlines decided to consolidate flights. >> we were actually supposed to leave at 2:25, and we're not leaving until almost 4:00, and they're having to reroute us through l.a. because we won't be able to catch our flight in dallas to houston. >> reporter: but summer perkins and her husband took it all in stride, spending the extra time sight seeing. airport leaders say if we continue to see the winds coming from the southeast, you can expect similar delays tomorrow. so your best bet is to call your air carrier and verify that your flight is on time before you even come out here to the airport. reporting live at sfo, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> all right, very good advice. thank you, marianne. we're getting a lot of picture news of the stormy weather into the newsroom, including the rainbows. beautiful shots. it's a great way to share the

weather in your community. you can send us your photos by e-mailing newstips@nbcbayarea.com. once again, that's newstips@nbcbayarea.com. our storm coverage continues through this newscast and of course at 6:00. jeff ranieri, our meteorologist, will rejoin us in just a few minutes with our complete forecast. it doesn't appear to be weather-related, but a big backup on 808 and san leandro. the lanes are zil stihl blocked after a big rig stent this afternoon. it was carrying demolished cars when it lost several of them near marina boulevard. the accident backed up traffic for miles, as you can see. caltrans brought in a sweeper to clean up the debris. fortunately no one was hurt. the cause of this crash is still under investigation. in other news tonight, a young san jose teen appeared in adult court today, charged with some very disturbing crimes. adonis muldrow is accused of a crime spree that included murder, armed robbery and a shoot-out with police. nbc bay area's damian trujillo was in the packed courtroom today. he joins us live outside the san jose courthouse with a closer

look at the juvenile now officially charged as an adult. damian? >> reporter: well, janelle, the deputies walked muldrow over here to the courthouse from juvenile hall. and even at the young age of 15 years ode, muldrow may never see freedom again. he wore the green jumpsuit of juvenile hall adonis muldrow became the exception today. >> he is charged with the commission of a murder in the course of a carjacking, as well as attempted murder of a police officer. so anybody who is willing to do either of those things poses a significant threat to the community. and it was important to get him off the streets as quickly as possible. >> reporter: the prosecutor says muldrow conspired with this man, 25-year-old jonathan wilbanks to go on a crime spree on november 16th. the man police say the duo murdered was rory parkpettiford who happened to be in the wrong place. >> i talked to his mother, his

mom. >> reporter: this san jose police officer is using a nonprofit website to raise funds for the family. he has raised mostly $2,000, mostly donations from other cops. >> when you really think about it, that's why we took the job. not to wear the shiny star, the uniform, all that stuff. that's all secondary, you know. we took the job because it has a purpose and a meaning. >> reporter: his website has helped raise funds for about a dozen other families in need. >> what this has allowed me to do is to remember that people are still good, and that there is good things going on in our community. and sometimes all it takes is one little thing to galvanize a group of people to come together. >> reporter: while the pettiford family heals, the men charged with his murder sits behind bars. wilbanks will stay at the main jail while adonis sits inside

juvenile hall. his age did save muldrow in one aspect. it is considered a cruel and unusual punishment to execute someone if they committed a crime while under the age of 18 years old. so with that, muldrow cannot face the death penalty. we're live at the hall of justice, i'm damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. in other news now, who should it be? alex or collin? the mystery is over. but the controversy is not. 49ers head coach caution says colin kaepernick is officially replacing smith as the starting quarterback. it was major news in the sports world. we streamed the news conference live on nbcbayarea.com, espn, comcast sports and the nfl network all broke into programing. so this marks a new era really for if first place 49ers. kaepernick replaced smith about three weeks ago on this play after smith was knocked out of the game with a concussion. since then he has led the team to two wins, kaepernick has, and a tie. smith is now ready to play, but

has since been benched. the niners play the rams this sunday. still to come, is san jose going commercial? why some of the city's landmark could be getting new names. and a marissa mayer is finally opening up about the challenges of being a mother. and good afternoon. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we're talking the storms tonight after one this morning. another one lining up. overall rainfall totals over an inch for a good section of the bay area. and let's get a look at that satellite radar picture right now. our next storm about 500 miles away, and it's strengthening. we'll have the latest on when that arrives in just a few minutes. plus, they were trapped with nowhere to go. we'll tell you about the daring rescue in the south bay.

tweeting his agenda, president obama is again using twitter to rally support, making

the term #my2k a trending phrase online. speaking from the white house and flanked by middle class americans, the president declared that failing to extend an income tax freeze for the middle class could cost each household more than $2,000 as early as next year. he is calling on the public to lobby lawmakers on what losing $2,000 would mean to them. one house republican is already on board. >> we all agree that we're not going to raise taxes on people that make less than $250,000. we should just take them out of this discussion right now. >> but not so fast. it's not so easy says house speaker john boehner. if congress acts now to block tax hikes for 98% of americans, lawmakers can go home for the holidays, and on january 1st tax rates would rise automatically on the top 2%. and yahoo ceo marissa mayer is meeting with president obama to discuss the fiscal cliff. we just got a picture from the white house. you can see mayer just barely there on the right-hand side --

on the left-hand side of the picture, bottom left-hand corner. she joined more than a dozen other business leaders at the white house today. mayer is also making headlines for her speech to an invite only crowd in palo alto last night. she said she juggles her priorities listing god, family and yahoo. adding, quote, the baby's been way easier than everyone made it out to be. so those have been the two really terrific surprises. the kid has been easier, and the job has been fun. for the second straight day, heroic actions saved lives from a burning vehicle. the good samaritan in this case jesus hernandez saw an rv on fire in east san jose. it happened this morning, and he heard screams for help from that rv. he grabbed a garden hose and was able to open the door and help two women out of the rv. when firefighters showed up, they pulled out a 4 week old pit bullpuppy from the fire. investigators say the cause is most likely from candles

burning. >> it's not suspicious at all. it's just one of the things around the holidays and a cold time that we would burn candles and have heaters on. you have to be really cognizant of making sure we're awake and only having those things on when we're able to attend to them. >> the women inside the rv were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. and then just yesterday, a bus driver, wilma acosta saw flames shooting out of her bus in the engine compartment. she immediately went back to the bus where she helped save a young girl, a middle schoolgirl who was in a wheelchair. so two car rescues in the last two days. we have other news right now. the epa is taking action against oil giant bp, citing a lack of business integrity. the agency has suspended the company from scoring new federal contracts following the 2010 oil spill. the suspension will be in effect until bp can provide enough evidence to show it meets the government's standards. the british oil company is one of the largest u.s. government contractors. it holds the most leases in the gulf of mexico. that's where its deepwater horizon well exploded back in

2010, killing 11 people. bp recently agreed to pay $4 billion in fines and penalties for that disaster. well, let's turn our attention now back to the weather. right now it's actually pretty beautiful for much of the bay area, but it's going to happen again. the bay area bracing for the next round of wet weather, with the first storm now passed, we made it through. >> so far so good. the bay area spent the morning monitoring conditions in the east and north bays. our jodi hernandez is live in court t corte madera where people are drying out. >> reporter: they are. we're here in corte madera where there is a big pile of sand where folks can come by and pick up sandbags if they choose to do so. while the series of storms is expected to pack a huge punch, we found folks taking it all in stride. crews in the north bay are busy clearing storm drains and

sweeping streets after round one of the season's first big storm swept through. >> everything is looking clean, nice. and we got running all day, all night here. >> reporter: this morning's downpour dropped a couple of inches of water on parts of the bay area, sending folks running for cover, and making driving a bit treacherous. but it didn't last long. the rain clouds moved right on out around noon. and while some streets remained soggy, most people are weathering the first bout of rain and wind quite well. >> i saw yesterday that the street cleaner was going around at 5:30 at night. so i know people are working overtime, and we're all really appreciative. >> reporter: tricia lacy and 2-year-old anna took advantage of the break in the rain to let off some steam. the lacys are ready to hunker down for what is expected to be the next whopper of a rainstorm. >> whether i go stir crazy at home with my three kids is

another story. so movie nights, breaks when we can. >> reporter: as the next front inches in, pg&e is urging everyone to be prepared. so far power outages have been minimal. but that could change. over the next few days we are expecting that winds, gusts of winds will increase, that the rain will continue. these are all a things that can cause weather-related outages. so we are certainly prepared to address those quickly and safely. and of course want to make sure that our customers are ready for that as well. >> reporter: now, among the items you should have on hand are a flashlight, a fully charged cell phone, and a battery-operated radio. now, again, sand is being offered at locations across the bay area, including a fire station here in corte madera. we have been here most of the afternoon, and we have yet to see anybody stop by and pick it up. reporting live in corte madera, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, jodi.

let's bring in our chief meteorologist once again, jeff ranieri. the good news here is we have been talking about it for the last couple of days, so everyone is kind of warned here. >> definitely. with the first round of weather we had several storm reports moving in. good news right now. we're under an advertised break for the bay area with dry conditions from the north bay down to the south bay. but this morning, here is the thing i want to pinpoint. out here across the east bay, in alameda county, right on interstate 880, chp officers reported widespread areas of flooding on some of these roadways. and this isn't even the worst of the rain that is going to be coming our way. so we dealt with flooding conditions this the morning roads. so no doubt as we head into the next two different storms, we're going to see those situations replicated out here across the bay area. and some of the top wind gusts unreal. look at this. mt. hamilton going up to an 82 miles per hour wind gust this morning. los gatos coming in second with 72-mile-per-hour winds. and anywhere along the peninsula, it was a good bet that you had winds topping 40 miles per hour for the most part here throughout this morning. now with that storm moving out, winds not so bad at this hour.

about 10 to 15 miles per hour at some of our buoys we're tracking. and you can see the heaviest rainfall is gone. current temperatures are cold. back behind the cold front, with plenty of 50s and also low 60s across the weather boards. let's take you live outside to the hd sky camera network on this stormy day. you can see the cloud cover is hanging around. traffic moving smoothly. a lot better than on the morning commute. now, as we get you back into what is going to be happening, it is just unbelievable here. we haven't seen a series of storms line up like this since about spring of 2010. here is the next storm. very expansive. not only the core of that system will be moving over, but a smaller storm associated with it. then we'll also have another storm system as we head throughout sunday. so nonetheless, it's lining up out here as we head throughout the next three to four days. and here is the other thing to note. jet stream is going to stay right over northern california. that will also increase our chance here of some isolated thunderstorms, as we head throughout friday, saturday, and even for sunday. temperatures for the most part

will stay in the 60s. we're looking at mainly dry for most of the area on thursday, where the chance of showers in the north bay. then as we head throughout friday, that's when widespread rain will return. we're going to show that to you here as we head throughout tomorrow morning. mainly cloud cover across the bay area. then as we head throughout the afternoon, there comes the next storm system up into the north bay. it is going to be slow to push to the south. we may not get that second round of rain in the south bay or for the east bay until 6:00 a.m. on friday. so once again, another tough commute coming your way for friday morning. and then that rainfall is going to linger, as we head all the way through friday and into saturday morning. that's where our flooding concerns will be coming from, this storm system. look at this. our computer estimates up into the north bay showing potentially anywhere from 4 inches at santa rosa to some of the higher elevations near 6 and 7 inches. and that brings us to our next concern, river flooding. the area at highest risk will be the russian river in guerneville. current level 5.55 feet.

current crest on monday at 25.4 feet. an over 20-foot increase expected as we head through the next series of storms. not expect to be at flood stage, but that's why they do have sandbags at stations that people can pick up if the water starts to rise quickly. always better to be prepared. the forecast, there is the next storm system saturday, a chance of thunderstorms. and then we'll get another stronger storm in here as we head into sunday, with periods of heavy rain. and here is the good news out of all this. dry weather coming as we head throughout monday, tuesday, and also on wednesday. a wild ride this morning. thankfully it's cleared out for now. >> i thought it was typo of the russian river you're talking about. amazing. 20 feet. >> and your graphic of sideways rain, crazy. at least we dry out for a bit. okay. thanks, jeff. well, nbc bay area is awarding $100,000 in grants to outstanding local nonprofits. we invite you'd to submit to the 21st century solution program since this past december. and we are pleased to announce

the winnerers. opportunity fund northern california. next door solutions to domestic violence, and eden housing. congratulations. up next, the high cost, but what is the benefit? the surprising new estimates for an expansion plan.

after 76 years, a downtown san jose landmark is getting a new name. the san jose council gave the green light to a naming deal for the san jose pacific auditorium, which just underwent a major face-lift. the business journal says the $1.2 million agreement with city national bank based in los angeles would give them naming rights for five years at the civic and the center for performing arts. the deal is preliminary, and will have to be finalized before any contracts are signed. it could be the first of many new names as the city looks to generate revenue. it's an expensive ride. $175 million for about 200 people to take vta to los gatos. the vta says about 200 riders

will take advantage of a planned mile and a half extension into los gatos. the new line would be one of the least used light rail extensions planned in the nation. it will only reduce south bay vehicle traffic by 1/10 of a percent. the vta will hold a public meeting to discuss this proposal on tuesday at the campbell public library. >> and we'll be right back. hey, look! a shooting star!

make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today.

okay. we're not out of the woods yet. a small break, but round two is coming. >> it's coming pretty quick here, even after a little bit of break this afternoon. here we go for tomorrow. mainly showers up into the north bay. then by friday some widespread rain returns across the bay area. thunderstorms expected on saturday. and then as we head throughout sunday, another stronger storm will arrive, and that's when our flood concerns will be the highest at some of the local

creeks, streams, and rivers right up into the north bay. >> so get a good book and watch a movie is what you're saying. >> i like that idea. >> thanks for joining us at 5:00. "nightly news" is next. we hope to see you for our local news at 6:00. >> see you then. good night.

ewi on our broadcast tonights medicare on the fiscal cliff? could millions have to pay more while getting less and waiting longer? tonight, what is going on right now and what it could mean for millions of americans. the jackpot, over half a billion now and growing. so is the frenzy over tonight's powerball